PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, WHOSE POLITICS generally are left of center, stands well to the right of Mao Zedong on one contentious issue: the primacy of the secret ballot.

The president has said he would support the legislation, drafted on behalf of dues-starved union bosses, that would allow workers to choose between open balloting and secret balloting in organizing drives. The change is supposed to correct a legal bias that ostensibly favors anti-union employers and, consequently, increase union membership.